Andree Woodcock, Coventry University joins the ENoLL Council

We met with the author, researcher, professor and the newest Council Member of the European Network of Living Labs, at our premises at the Welkin & Meraki building in Brussels. Dr Andree Woodcock has a remarkable background and will bring a new perspective on transport and gender inclusivity issues to the Council table.

Woodcock will be representing Coventry University in the Council meetings and at the network. The University has joined ENoLL through the Coventry City Lab during the 5^th membership wave in 2011.

“We are interested in learning from others about design and co-creation processes, the [ENoLL] knowledge base, the co-creation methods, attending some of the workshops” Woodcock revealed during our talk.

“I am really interested in finding out what is happening across Europe. Design methodology, how you engage with citizens and all the co-creation angles”

When asked about her current work, Woodcock pointed to two subjects of her interest: transport and gender inclusivity. She is coordinating two EU-funded projects; SUITS and TInnGO, both focusing on the topic of transport. The Sustainable Urban Integrated Transport Systems (SUITS) project is focusing on capacity-building in local authorities to support sustainable  transport measures. Citizen engagement is an important factor of the project, as the authorities are having difficulties of communicating the newest means of transport to the residents.

TInGO – Transport Innovation Gender Observatory project, is working on the paradigm shift in gender and mobility. Women are underrepresented in the transport industries, there are only 22% in transport.

With smart mobility agenda, there is an opportunity to start doing things differently. 10 labs are set-up across Europe to collect data and co-creation labs which are focused on engaging with women and tackling problems existing within a locality. Trying to get women to develop solutions and innovations

These are hard-to-reach groups points Woodcock. “In the UK we are looking at ethnic minorities and rural women and giving them voice. Each lab has a challenge and an area to work on”.

The activities of Coventry Living Lab can be found on their profile page on the ENoLL website.

The interview was conducted by Spela Zalokar, Communications Officer at ENoLL.